Friday, 18 July 2008

Did I say I was going to knit a cardigan for my sister in three weeks?

I think I was crazy. Who was I kidding? A full sized adult cardigan in three weeks? Just because I made a pi shawl in three weeks does not mean I could get a cardigan done.

Madness.

If you look at the Tour De France knit along blog, you'll see people are flying along with their knit-along projects. I look and I sigh. I feel like I'm lagging. Adele's cardigan is coming along, just not as quickly as I'd like.

Since I returned from the comfort of my hotel room in Alice Springs, I've not watched much of the race at all - 10pm to 2am is prime sleeping time, even for a sometimes insomniac like me and I've had a crazy busy week and a few little knitting related hiccups.

First of all, the good bit. The back. It's done.

Nice, easy bit of work done mostly in my hotel room.

Next, the sleeves. Two at once, to avoid that nasty second sleeve syndrome. RoseRed, in discussions, said she didn't know if she thought doing two at once saved you that much time. I fear she might have been right, not least of all because I spent days (ok, evenings) screwing up before I got it right.

If you've ever tried to knit two sleeves at once on a circular needle, you might have figured out that it's not straightforward. I thought it was before I set out. Piece of cake.

Nasty piece of cake, actually. I kept getting confused, forgetting which sleeve I'd done last. Yes, I could have used markers. Yes, I could have written things down. But no, not for me the simple approach. I winged it. And screwed it. You see, when you knit two at once on a circular, there are two ends that at any time, might be the right one. Fail to pay attention and you're down the back of the peloton, or worse still, taking a nasty spill.

With straight needles, you're flying. Only one end available for working on at any given time!

So we're on track now. I'm back to straight needles for the first time in, like, forever! Who uses straight needles anymore? Ok, I know lots of people do but I haven't in a long time and I tell you what, bunched up next to Sean on the couch (our tiny 2 seater) I can see why I gave them up for a joke. I think he's going to start sticking sharp things into my ribs soon, just so I can see what it's like.

This is not a difficult knit, I'm just not focused. But I will be. A week to go and I'd really like to have a crack at finishing it on time. If only because a)I have more yarn I want to knit with and b) in Sydney, where Adele lives, it's not cold enough for alpaca for all that long. I want her to wear it.

Finally, Roxie asked to see the Sunnyboy bag in hand for scale. Sean stepped up to the plate.

See, not that big. Not too small. Just right.

Right, there's a glass of wine and a bunch of BBC crime shows waiting for me. Oh, and some overly long straight needles.

Happy weekend everyone!

Bells

*Thanks to Sean for the title. I was struggling and only came up with 'Tour De France Update". Yawn.